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Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles (Ongoing)

Recent Project Updates

  • 9/30/2025
    Email from Jacob Benjamin:All,Last week was the conclusion of the bike retrieval period for abandoned bikes.  We got three claims in the 11th hour, which was good. I’ll begin organizing the leftovers this week, with help from my staff...
  • 8/14/2025
    Phase 4, bicycle retrieval, of the abandoned bicycles project will begin soon. Individuals whose bicycle has been impounded during the summer round-up and who wish to retrieve their bike will be able to do so at the Campus Bike Center. In order to...

Associated Collections

Description

Every summer, Facilities & Services (F&S) tags all bicycles left on campus property and confirms the abandoned bicycles. University Parking cuts the locks, collects, and transports the abandoned and unwanted bicycles on campus.The bicycles are inventoried at the storage facility and the bicycles are searched in the University's registered bicycle database to identify the owners of the impounded bicycle. If the bicycle is registered, the owner is contacted to collect their bicycle. If the bicycle was not registered, it is kept in the storage until mid-September.

Bicycle owners have until mid-September to claim their bicycles. If the bicycle is not claimed after this holding period, the unwanted bicycle is donated to The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign. Many of these bicycles can be refurbished but due to the volume of bicycles collected, most are donated to the non-profit Working Bikes for shipment to overseas partner agencies. The Campus Bike Center Manager goes to the storage facility and collect bicycles for refurbishing and prepare the rest for shipment.

No description has been provided yet.

Bicycles Donated to Working Bikes Chicago

Project Team

  • Primary Contact:

    Sarthak Prasad

    Project Leader:

    Sarthak Prasad

    Team Members:

    • Jake Benjamin
    • Stacey DeLorenzo
    • Brandon Alexander - Parking

Themes